Older and Disabled Drivers Wait 47 Times Longer for a DVLA Licence Decision

• DVLA figures obtained under Freedom of Information law show medical licence reviews took an average of 56.66 working days in the 2025/26 financial year.
• Non-medical renewals were processed in an average of 1.2 working days over the same period, a gap of roughly 47 times.
• Drivers can usually keep driving while they wait under Section 88 of the Road Traffic Act, provided they still meet the medical standard.

One phone call decides whether an older driver keeps their independence

Glenda Edwards is 82 and applied to renew her driving licence in January, declaring a diagnosis of glaucoma as the law requires. Her doctor has now told her she does not have the condition. Months on, she says she still cannot get the DVLA to correct her file or confirm her licence, and the wait has left her too anxious to drive. “I don’t want to go anywhere unless I have to,” she told ITV Cymru Wales. “It’s had a devastating impact on me.”

Her case is not unusual. A Freedom of Information request submitted by ITV Wales found that the DVLA took an average of 56.66 working days, more than 11 weeks, to decide licence applications requiring a medical review in the 2025/26 financial year. That is already above the agency’s own target of 50 working days when it has all the information it needs. Over that same period, the DVLA processed more than 5.18 million non-medical renewals, with over 5.15 million completed inside its target of three working days online or 10 days by post.

A 47-times gap between two versions of the same agency

Put the two figures side by side and a driver with a routine, healthy renewal gets a decision in roughly a day and a quarter. A driver who declares a medical condition, however minor or however wrongly diagnosed, can wait 47 times longer for the same piece of plastic. Byron Jenkins told ITV Wales his wife applied to renew her licence in November and waited more than six months for a decision. Curious whether others faced the same problem, he posted in a local Facebook group and had 28 replies within an hour, with at least a dozen describing similar delays tied to medical information. Some said they had waited more than 10 months.

The people affected are disproportionately older. All drivers must renew their licence every three years from age 70, and the older a driver gets, the more likely they are to be managing a condition that triggers the medical review process, whether that is eyesight, a heart condition or diabetes. The DVLA does not publish an age breakdown of its medical caseload, but the pattern in the complaints reported to ITV Wales, and in similar reporting from the Register and the House of Commons Library, points consistently toward pensioners as the group most affected.

The DVLA says it is fixing the backlog

A DVLA spokesperson apologised for the delays and pointed to “exceptionally high demand for applications from customers with medical conditions.” The agency says it has introduced a new casework system for medical cases, launched an online portal on 31 March allowing drivers to report a new medical condition or apply for renewal digitally, and taken on 43 more medical caseworkers.

Separate reporting on the DVLA’s wider licensing performance shows the agency’s overall processing time for medical cases had climbed as high as 71.4 working days earlier in 2026, according to figures given to Parliament by transport minister Simon Lightwood, before the new systems began bringing it down toward the 56.66-day average recorded across the full financial year. The direction of travel is an improvement. The gap with non-medical applicants remains enormous.

Can you keep driving while you wait?

The single most important thing an affected driver needs to know, and the fact most likely to ease the anxiety Glenda Edwards and thousands like her describe, is Section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It allows a driver to continue driving legally while a renewal application is pending, provided they have submitted the application, still meet the medical standard for a licence, and have not been told by a doctor or the DVLA to stop driving. In practice this means most drivers awaiting a medical decision are entitled to stay on the road throughout the wait.

The problem is that very few drivers know this provision exists, and the uncertainty itself causes real harm even when the law technically permits them to drive. Glenda’s friend, who has been helping her deal with the DVLA, said the situation had left her “worried about being stopped by the police” even though the law gave her every right to be on the road. Citizens Advice and driver groups recommend printing out the Section 88 rule and keeping a copy of the renewal application in the car as reassurance for any roadside check.

Why the numbers keep climbing

Part of the pressure comes from simple demographics. The UK has more drivers over 70 than ever before, and every one of them faces a licence renewal every three years, each one a fresh chance for a medical flag to be raised. Add growing numbers of younger drivers managing long-term conditions such as diabetes or epilepsy, and the DVLA’s medical casework team is handling a caseload that has grown faster than its staffing.

The agency’s own target of 50 working days already builds in a far longer timescale than most people expect from a government service, precisely as medical cases often require input from a driver’s GP or consultant before a decision can be made. Doctors do not always respond quickly to DVLA requests for medical information, and a case can sit waiting on a single letter from a hospital consultant for weeks. Campaign groups argue the DVLA needs a dedicated, faster channel for chasing that medical evidence rather than leaving the whole file stalled.

What to do if your renewal is stuck

Apply online through the new gov.uk portal rather than by post where possible, as the DVLA says digital applications move through its new casework system faster. Keep a written record of every submission date, reference number and phone call, given that a paper trail helps if you need to escalate a complaint or contact your MP over an excessive wait.

If a wait passes the DVLA’s own 50-working-day target with no explanation, drivers can raise a formal complaint through the agency’s website, and MPs can request a case review directly from the DVLA’s parliamentary unit, a route that campaigners say tends to produce a faster response than repeated phone calls. For anyone whose medical details are wrong, as Glenda Edwards says hers are, a GP letter confirming the correction should be submitted in writing with the renewal reference number attached, rather than relying on the phone line alone.

Age UK and the Older Drivers Forum have both raised the delays with ministers directly, arguing that a system meant to protect road safety risks doing the opposite if it leaves anxious pensioners avoiding driving altogether, cutting them off from GP appointments, shops and family visits in areas with little public transport. The Commons Public Accounts Committee has previously examined DVLA backlogs and pressed the agency for a clearer breakdown of medical processing times by condition type, information the DVLA has not yet published in full.

Sources:

• ITV News Wales: DVLA lengthy waits for drivers with medical conditions
• The Register: DVLA’s licence backlog
• House of Commons Library: Reform of the DVLA